Here is what an early catch looks like. Working with the cross-laminated timber (CLT) supplier during design development surfaced a problem in one preliminary layout: unusually high waste.
A typical CLT cutting plan runs about 10 percent waste, from openings and off-cuts of the standard mother panels. This design was over 15. The fix was stand-alone headers: instead of cutting door openings out of large panels, the openings are framed with off-cuts that would otherwise be scrap. More handling and a few more pieces, but a real saving in material.
This is the kind of decision that only exists if the supplier is in the room before the drawings are frozen.
That closes the design phase. The model is complete and the cutting plan is clean. The next question is where the timber comes from and how it reaches a mountain site, which is the next series, From forest to container.
Adapted with permission from a note by our colleagues at Red Falls Timber Co.
